Method of manufacturing a folding mat and a folding mat made by the same

Abstract

A method of manufacturing a folding mat includes: suctioning a first film onto a lower mold, in which a downwardly concave slit groove is formed at one end of a cavity such that a portion of the first film forms a unit fold part; inserting the unit filler over the first film; disposing a second film on an upper side of the lower mold to cover the unit filler; attaching the edge parts of the first and the second films together by using an upper mold mating with the lower mold; trimming an attachment part of the unit mats thus fabricated; fusing the unit fold part of the unit mat with the unit fold part of an adjacent unit mat; and fusing the attachment part of one of the two unit mats thus connected with the attachment part or the unit fold part of another unit mat.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of manufacturing a folding mat, the folding mat comprising a plurality of unit mats, each of the unit mats comprising a unit filler shaped as a quadrilateral block and a unit outer skin enveloping the unit filler, the plurality of unit mats stacked in a zigzag form by way of a first and a second fold part formed on an upper end on one side and a lower end on the other side of the unit outer skin, the method comprising:
 suctioning a first film onto a lower mold, the lower mold having a downwardly concave slit groove extending in a lengthwise direction at one end of a bottom surface of a quadrilateral cavity formed therein, the first film suctioned to be in tight contact with the bottom surface of the cavity, an inner wall of the slit groove, and an entrance periphery of the slit groove, such that a portion of the first film placed in tight contact with the slit groove forms a unit fold part;   inserting the unit filler over the first film placed in tight contact with the cavity of the lower mold;   disposing a second film on an upper side of the lower mold to cover the unit filler, the second film disposed such that an edge part of the second film overlaps an edge part of the first film positioned in the entrance periphery of the cavity of the lower mold;   attaching the edge parts of the first and the second films together by using an upper mold mating with the lower mold;   trimming an attachment part of the unit mats thus fabricated, the attachment part trimmed such that all of or a portion of the attachment part is trimmed;   fusing the unit fold part of the unit mat with the unit fold part of an adjacent unit mat by way of heat or high-frequency waves; and   fusing the attachment part of one of the two connected unit mats with the attachment part or the unit fold part of another unit mat by way of heat or high-frequency waves.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the unit filler is made from a polyethylene expanded foam member, the first and the second films forming the unit outer skin are made from thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), and the attachment part of the first and second films is formed by the edge parts fused together by high-frequency fusion. 
     
     
         3 . A folding mat manufactured by the method of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         4 . A folding mat manufactured by the method of  claim 2 .